1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) phone systems and in particular, to a system and a method for integrating location information into such VoIP phone systems.
2. Related Art
The growth of broadband Internet access has also given rise to an ever expanding use of VoIP technology as an alternative to traditional Plain Old Telephone Service (“POTS”). In general, VoIP or Internet telephony refers to communication services—voice, facsimile, and/or voice-messaging applications—that are transported over the Internet, rather than over the public switched telephone network (“PSTN”). The basic steps involved in originating an Internet telephone call are conversion of an analog voice signal to a digital format and then compression/translation of the digital signal into Internet protocol (“IP”) packets for transmission over the Internet, with the process being reversed at the receiving end.
At the same time, the worldwide utilization of wireless devices such as two-way radios, pagers, portable televisions, personal communication systems (“PCSs”), personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), cellular telephones (also known as “mobile phones”), BLUETOOTH, satellite radio receivers and Satellite Positioning Systems (“SATPS”) such as Global Positioning Systems (“GPS”), also known as NAVSTAR, is also growing at a rapid pace. As the number of people employing wireless devices increases, the number of features offered by wireless service providers also increases, as does the integration of these wireless devices into other products.
The number of features offered by wireless service providers is increasingly matching that offered by POTS providers. Features such as call waiting, call forwarding, caller identification (“caller ID”), three-way calling, data transmission and other features are commonly offered by both land-line and wireless service providers and these features generally operate in the same manner on both wireless devices and land-line telephones.
Another feature that is being introduced is to provide location information of a wireless device user in an emergency situation, commonly referred to as Enhanced 911 or E911 service. E911 is an example of an approach of providing a location of a person utilizing a cellular telephone in an emergency situation in a similar fashion to that of a 911 service call (normally referred to as a “911” call) on a land-line telephone. E911, however, operates differently on wireless devices than a 911 service call does on land-line telephones.
When a 911 call is placed from a land-line telephone, the 911 reception center receives the call and determines the origin of the call. In case the caller fails, or forgets, to identify his or her location, the 911 reception center is able to obtain the location from which the call was made from the land-line telephone switching network and send emergency personnel to the location of the call.
If instead, an E911 call is placed from a wireless device such as a cellular telephone, the E911 reception center receives the call but cannot determine the origin of the call. If the caller fails, or forgets, to identify his or her location, the E911 reception center is unable to obtain the location of the call because the mobile switching network is different than the land-line telephone switching network. At present, the best that the E911 reception center may possibly do is determine the location of the basestation corresponding to the cell from which the call was placed. Unfortunately, typical cells in a cellular network system may cover an area with approximately a 30-mile diameter.
However, the United States Congress, through the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), has enacted a requirement that cellular telephones be locatable to within 50 feet once an emergency call, such as an E911 call, is placed by a given cellular telephone. This type of position data would assist police, paramedics, and other law enforcement and public service personnel, as well as other agencies that may need to have legal rights to determine the position of specific cellular telephone.
Likewise, VoIP phone service providers need means to add location information to their systems, for the aforementioned E911 emergency response and other location-based applications. These VoIP phone systems currently have no automatic means to determine their location and relay that location through the network. Further, these VoIP phone systems may utilize small, portable digital phone adapters or routers that are often located in the basement of a home or in a closet or other enclosed space where receiving GPS signals may be difficult if not impossible. One solution is to have a VoIP user provide his physical address to the VoIP service provider prior to his dialing 911 in an emergency situation. This, however, results in additional problems in terms of the transportability of the VoIP equipment as well as the additional administrative and overhead expenses that the VoIP service provider will have to incur in operating and maintaining a basic 911 and E911 call center.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and a method capable of seamlessly integrating location information into VoIP phone systems.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.